


Overload

by Faiz



Category: The Almighty Johnsons
Genre: Gen, Weight Issues, lack of eating, work overload
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-06
Updated: 2013-12-06
Packaged: 2018-01-03 15:25:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1072060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faiz/pseuds/Faiz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anders didn't even realize how little he was eating because of how much he was working. It's not like he was starving himself...Right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Overload

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Elenhin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elenhin/gifts).



> Inspired by a series of emails between me and Elenhin, and involving her headcanon about Anders never being one to eat that much.

Anders Johnson was hard working when he felt like it, although to most people it was known that more often than not, he didn't feel like it. It had been different though, these past few weeks. There had been a sudden influx of clients for J:PR, and for once Anders was finally giving a valiant effort to keep them. It could possibly because J:PR had taken another rather dangerous plunge and had been on the verge of finally going completely out of business, or because his brothers were finally not annoying him every few days and sending him off to run family 'errands' in which he'd return back to the office with unexplained bruises and cuts. 

But now he was sitting at his desk with a pile of folders that he was reading through as well as he could. He yawned, and looked up at the clock. It was almost lunchtime, he noticed. But he really didn't want to stop in the middle of his work to get a bite to eat. He knew he probably should, because he hadn't bothered with breakfast that morning, but honestly he didn't really want to go despite the pains in his incredibly empty stomach. Ultimately though, he didn't end up getting something to eat. He stayed in the office, but Dawn stood up and said that she was going to get lunch. She looked at him with slight concern.

"Do you want anything Anders? I know you missed breakfast this morning." She asked as she grabbed her coat by the front door of the office.

Anders glanced up, only half listening. "Huh? Oh...Sure I guess. Nothing too big, I'm not that hungry." That was a complete lie. There was pain in his stomach that he completely ignored.

He had better things to do anyways. What's missing a few meals when his company is on the line? Although they were doing much better despite the sudden workload that they had. Even Dawn had taken a toll, although not as badly as Anders. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. He felt very tired for some reason. It was strange because he had been making sure to get at least a proper night's sleep with all the work he had been doing. He felt a bit faint. But Anders still powered on through his work, and when Dawn returned to the office with a donut and a bag of chips for him, he only ate half the donut and a few chips. 

Dawn was keeping an eye on him. Anders seemed ill recently. His skin was much paler than normal and his eyes were sunken in. He looked like a zombie, and he had barely even touched the food that she brought him. The donut was going cold on his desk and the chips were teetering near the edge threatening to fall off and scatter the floor with their greasy saltiness. After a few moments of thinking Dawn realized that Anders had barely been eating much for a few weeks already. She had brushed it off at first as Anders just being himself. Even on the best days he never really ate that much, and it didn't help that he didn't even eat meat either. It was just something Dawn got used to, because it was just natural for Anders to eat like a bird.

She looked up in a panic when she heard a loud thump coming from where Anders had been and saw that he was on the floor, unconscious. She let out a gasp and quickly ran out from behind her desk and fell onto her knees right next to Anders. She lifted his head onto her lap and she shook him lightly. "Anders? Anders wake up!" 

She soon realized that this wasn't a faint spell where he collapsed for a few seconds and then woke up, this was much worse. She quickly dialed for an ambulance, and was practically pacing with worry until they arrived. When she tried to follow them out, she was stopped and told that only family could be with Anders at the moment. She frowned, but complied and watched them speed off with Anders. She ended up going back into the office to collect her things, and as she walked out she pulled out her cellphone intending to call Anders' brothers.

They had arrived quickly enough at the hospital where Dawn was waiting, and Ty was the first one to speak to her. "Dawn, what happened?"

"Something's happened to Anders. I don't know...He just collapsed in the office and he wouldn't wake up!" Her voice trembled as she spoke.

Ty immediately wrapped his arms around her and looked at Mike and Axl who were just behind him. They both simply nodded and walked up to the reception desk, asking for Anders. They were then lead to a hospital room where Anders was lying on the hospital bed with an unmistakable pout on his face. When he looked up and saw Mike and Axl walk in, his face broke out into a grin.

"Thank god, you guys can get me out of here!" He held his arms up in mock praise.

"What the hell happened to you?" Mike asked, completely ignoring what Anders had just said.

Anders let his arms drop back down onto the sheets, and his fingers curled lightly around the starched fabric. "I collapsed in the office from poor nutrition." Anders said offhandedly. "But whatever, I just want to get out of here!"

Mike paused, and he took in how Anders really looked at the moment. He was thing, horribly thin. He hadn't noticed it before because of the clothing Anders wore, but now that he was looking at him in that thin hospital gown he could see how thin he really was. His face was thinner and more gaunt, and he was practically a skeleton. His stomach clenched with worry when his mind briefly wondered about eating disorders, but Anders had never seemed to be the type. He ate very little, but he never worried much about his weight. But maybe that's what the problem was. 

"Have you been eating? Proper meals I mean." Mike asked.

Anders shrugged his bony shoulders. "Oh...I dunno. I ate half a donut and some chips today?" He said it like a question.

"Just that? Nothing else?" Mike pressed.

Anders nodded. "I guess I've been forgetting to eat."

Mike's hand immediately connected with his own face. Axl was the one who responded to the comment though. "But how do you even forget to eat Anders? I don't know if you know this, but eating is sort of important!"

Anders still didn't seem to be reacting quite as he should, but there was a hint of guilt in his gaze as he looked away from both of his brothers. "Look, I don't know. I've been working a lot and I just missed a few meals, okay? It's nothing that you guys need to freak out over."

"For fuck's sake Anders, you're skin and bones! You collapsed today and Dawn was panicking about you and you can say this all nonchalantly?" Mike was rubbing his temples.

"It's not like you cared much when I was younger though." Anders spat out, glaring back up at Mike. "I've never eaten a lot. I don't know what happened but since I was little I always felt like it was too much work, and sometimes I even felt guilty about it. It makes it even worse when I decided to go vegetarian. Hell, Val made me feel like I was purposely trying to be a horrible person because I couldn't eat some of the things she made!"

Mike and Axl went quiet, and so when Ty finally arrived he was met with a tense silence as all the brothers avoided looking at each other. Mike gave him a look as he walked passed him and Axl and sat down by Anders. "You okay?" was all that he asked.

"I could be better." Anders replied shortly, glancing up at Ty before looking back down at his sheets.

"We're here for you, you know that." 

"I know." 

Ty sighed, and looked up at Axl and Mike. They all knew that this was probably going to be a process, and that there was quite a bit that they knew they didn't know about their blond brother. Anders was clearly attempting to ignore them the best that he could though, which was slightly difficult as they were all sitting in the same small hospital bedroom. He knew himself that he probably wasn't going to be left alone for awhile, and so he let out a small sigh and looked up at his brothers, ready for whatever they were going to throw at him.


End file.
